A blue team is a group of individuals who perform an analysis of information systems to ensure security, identify security flaws, verify the effectiveness of each security measure, and to make certain all security measures will continue to be effective after implementation
A blue team is a company's own cybersecurity personnel, typically within a Security Operations Centre (SOC). The SOC consists of highly trained analysts who work on defending and improving their organisation's defences around the clock. The blue team is expected to detect, oppose and weaken the red team. The mock attack scenario is designed to enhance their skills by preparing them for dangerous real-world attacks. Many of today's threats, such as malware and phishing emails, will be stopped dead by automated tools on the network's perimeter. For example, endpoint security products and threat detection platforms. The SOC or blue team adds vital human intelligence to the tools and technologies and is both proactive and reactive. The blue team will detect and neutralise the more sophisticated attacks and closely monitor current and emerging threats to preemptively defend the organisation.
The blue team's objectives and duties
- Understanding every phase of an incident and responding appropriately.
- Noticing suspicious traffic patterns and identifying indicators of compromise.
- Rapidly shutting down any form of compromise.
- Identifying the red team/threat actors' command and control (C&C or C2) servers and blocking their connectivity to the target.
- Undertaking analysis and forensic testing on the different operating systems their organisation's runs, including use of third-party systems.
- Reviewing and analysing log data.
- Utilising a security information and event management (SIEM) platform for visibility and detection of live intrusions and to triage alarms in real-time.
- Gathering new threat intelligence information and prioritising appropriate actions in context with the risks.
- Performing traffic and data flow analysis.
